Deal with the Devil

by Peter Lance

  CHAPTER 40: THE COVER UP VIRUS

  1. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, case no. 06-CR-235 (FB), memorandum and order of Frederic Block, January 9, 2007, 5, http://www.peterlance.com/Grancio_Block_DeVecchio_decision-1_9_07.pdf.

  2. Ibid., 7.

  3. Colorado v. Symes, 286 U.S. 510 (1932).

  4. Block, memorandum and order, January 9, 2007, 21.

  5. Michael Brick, “From Jail Cell, a Convict Challenges a Prosecutor,” New York Times, March 16, 2006.

  6. Ibid.

  7. A. G. Sulzberger, “Facing Misconduct Claims, Brooklyn Prosecutor Agrees to Free Man Held 15 Years,” New York Times, June 8, 2010; Len Levitt, “Mike Mad, Joe Worse,” New York Confidential, June 7, 2010; Tom Robbins, “Jabbar Collins to Go Free on 1994 Murder Rap as Judge Scores Brooklyn DA,” Village Voice, June 8, 2010.

  8. Alex Ginsberg, “Canary Set to Peck at DeVecchio,” New York Post, February 2, 2007.

  9. Author’s interview with Tommy Dades, November 12, 2007.

  10. Jerry Capeci, “In FBI Murder Trial, Some Missteps and One Big Relief,” New York Sun, March 22, 2007.

  11. Dades interview.

  12. “Dades Facing Murder Charges,” New York Post, March 15, 2007.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Capeci, “In FBI Murder Trial, Some Missteps.”

  15. Heidi Singer and Alex Ginsberg, “Mob-Busting Prober Quits Brooklyn DA,” New York Post, May 25, 2007.

  16. Larry Celona, “DA Boots Prober-Turned-Mob-Sweetie,” New York Post, February 19, 2007.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Bradley Hope, “DA’s Office Gets a Warning over Office’s Ethics Procedures,” New York Sun, February 20, 2007.

  19. “Former ‘Radical’ Judge Presides over Former FBI Agent’s Trial,” Associated Press, October 2, 2007.

  20. Capeci, “In FBI Murder Trial, Some Missteps.”

  21. Kastigar v. U.S., 406 U.S. 441 (1972).

  22. Oliver North v. Lawrence E. Walsh, “Independent Counsel,” 881 F2d 1088, U.S. Court of Appeals, July 25, 1989; Gerald S. Greenberg, ed., Historical Encyclopedia of U.S. Independent Counsel Investigations (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000).

  23. Lawrence E. Walsh, Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up (New York: W. W. Norton, 1997).

  24. Capeci, “In FBI Murder Trial, Some Missteps.”

  25. William Rashbaum, “F.B.I. Colleagues Help Ex-Agent Post Bail,” New York Times, March 31, 2006.

  26. Alex Ginsberg, “Mob-Hit Case Is in Peril,” New York Post, May 7, 2007.

  27. Sworn affidavit of Detective Tommy Dades (ret.), February 26, 2007.

  28. Ginsberg, “Mob-Hit Case Is in Peril.”

  29. Michael Brick, “Long Hidden, Stories Clash over Killing Tied to the Mob,” New York Times, May 17, 2007.

  30. Austin Fenner and Alex Ginsberg, “DeVecchio Cop Tryst Bombshell,” New York Post, May 18, 2007.

  31. Michael Brick, “At Murder Trial, Prosecutors Doubt Police and Each Other,” New York Times, May 30, 2007.

  32. Alex Ginsberg, “Mob-Case Judge Gives DA a Whack,” New York Post, May 30, 2007.

  33. Charles Sweeney, “Two Mob-Related Murder Cases on Rocks,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 4, 2007.

  34. Alex Ginsberg, “‘Mob-Fed’ Defendant Passes on Plea,” New York Post, June 8, 2007.

  35. Alex Ginsberg, “Slay Rap KO’d in ‘Mob-Fed’ Shocker: Judge Blasts ‘Too Late’ Cops and Brooklyn DA,” New York Post, June 12, 2007.

  36. Scott Shifrel, “Beats Slay Rap in ‘Last of DeVecchio Debacle,’” New York Daily News, June 13, 2008.

  37. Jerry Capeci, “Mob Scion May Bolster Turncoat Case,” New York Sun, June 28, 2007.

  38. Download from http://www.peterlance.com/Peter_Lance/GREG_JR_MURAD.html.

  39. Christopher Mattiace, e-mail to Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, March 1, 2007.

  40. Author’s interview with FBI Special Agent James Whalen (ret.), March 1, 2007.

  41. Download from http://www.peterlance.com/Peter_Lance/DeVecchios_legal_fees.html.

  42. William Sherman, “You Pay G-Man’s Legal Bills,” New York Daily News, March 6, 2007.

  43. 28 C.F.R. 50.15(a) and 50.16.

  44. Letter and answers to questions posed to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, to Senator Patrick J. Leahy, chairman, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, from Brian A. Benczkowski, principal deputy assistant attorney general, January 25, 2008, 72.

  45. Letter dated July 21, 2010, from Ronald Welch, assistant attorney general, to John Conyers Jr., chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility for the Department of Justice; “An Investigation into the Removal of the U.S. Attorney in 2006,” unclassified report on the President’s Surveillance Program, July 10, 2009, prepared by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense, Department of Transportation, CIA, National Security Agency, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

  46. Nina Totenberg, “Report: Ex-AG Gonzales Mishandled Classified Info,” National Public Radio, September 2, 2008.

  47. “A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Use of National Security Letters,” U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, retrieved April 12, 2007, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Gonzales-cite_ref-usdoj_42-0.

  48. “Bush Ally Gonzales Resigns Post,” BBC.com, August 27, 2007; “Republican Support for Attorney General Erodes,” MSNBC.com, March 25, 2007.

  49. Ibid.

  50. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, January 13, 2012.

  51. “Trial Starts for ‘Mafia Cops’ Accused of Murder,” Associated Press, March 13, 2006; “Prosecutor: Cops Went on Decades-Long Crime Spree at Bidding of Mobsters,” Associated Press, published on MSNBC.com, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10958649/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/trial-starts-mafia-cops-accused-murder/#.T3Im2I60dJ8.

  52. Transcript of conference call among Anthony Casso, Lou Eppolito, Stephen Caracappa, Bettina Schein, and Rae Downes Koshetz, March 30, 2006.

  53. Ibid., 14.

  54. “NYPD ‘Mafia Cops’ Convicted of Murders,” Associated Press, April 7, 2006.

  55. Jonathan Dienst, “Brooklyn DA Opens Mob Leak Investigation,” WNBC.com, January 4, 2006.

  56. Rashbaum, “F.B.I. Colleagues Help Ex-Agent Post Bail.”

  57. John Marzulli, “2 Cops Who Killed for Mafia: Feds Say Retired Detective Pals Are Linked to at Least 8 Murders,” New York Daily News, March 9, 2005.

  58. Ed Bradley, “Ex-Mob Boss Points a Finger,” 60 Minutes, CBS News, April 11, 2005.

  59. Michael Fleming, “Wolf, NBC Universal calling ‘Cops,’” Variety, April 17, 2007.

  60. William Oldham, The Brotherhoods: The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia (New York: Scribner, 2006); Greg B. Smith, Mob Cops: The Shocking Rise and Fall of New York’s “Mafia Cops” (New York: Berkley, 2006); Jimmy Breslin, The Good Rat: A True Story (New York: Ecco, 2008); Tommy Dades and Mike Vecchione with David Fisher, Friends of the Family: The Inside Story of the Mafia Cops Case (New York: William Morrow, 2009).

  61. Michael Fleming, “Col Corners Corrupt Cops,” Variety, April 21, 2005.

  62. Ibid.

  63. Dades, Vecchione, and Fisher, Friends of the Family.

  64. Friends of Lin DeVecchio website, March 1, 2007. Download from http://peterlance.com/Friends_of_Lin_Motives_3_1_07.pdf.

  65. Ibid.

  66. John Marzulli, “Tell-All Risks Mob Cop Case: Assistant DA’s Book May Cut Trial Options,” New York Daily News, July 11, 2006.

  67. Ibid.

  68. Alan Feuer, “Judge Acquits 2 Ex-Detectives in Mob Killings,” New York Times, July 1, 2006.

  69. E-mail to author from Andy Kurins, June 14, 2006.

  70. Author’s interview with Noel Downey, March 30, 2006.

  71. Grover memorandum, January 29, 2007, 38.

  72. People of the State of New York v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, affidavit in opposition to remand, Dou
glas Grover, June 23, 2006.

  73. Ibid., 16.

  74. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, subpoena duces tecum served on Peter Lance June 23, 2007, dated June 12, 2007, by Mark A. Bederow, Thompson Hine, LLP, attorney for the defendant. Download from http://peterlance.com/Kastigar_DeVecchio%27s_subpoena_of_PL.pdf.

  75. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, pretrial hearing, statement of Douglas Grover, April 20, 2007, 21.

  76. Ibid., 25–26, 21.

  77. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, memorandum of law, Douglas Grover, January 29, 2007.

  78. Peter Lance, Cover Up: What the Government Is Still Hiding About the War on Terror (New York: ReganBooks, 2004), 84.

  79. Bill Moushey, “Switching Sides,” Post-Gazette, December 1, 1998.

  80. Lance, Cover Up, 87, citing Fredric Dannen, “The G-Man and the Hit Man,” New Yorker, December 16, 1996.

  81. Linda Stasi, “Show’s Finale Fires ‘Blanks,’” New York Post, June 11, 2007: “With his wife and the giggling tykes looking on, Phil [Leotardo] gets out, looks back and is then shot at point-blank range by Tony’s guy. . . . Ironically, when Harris gets word of the hit, he sputters, ‘We’re gonna win this one,’ quoting a real-life alleged dirty fed, Lindley DeVecchio.”

  82. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, November 3, 2011.

  83. “Ex-Newser Fights FBI-Mole Case Subpoena,” New York Daily News, August 2, 2007.

  84. Charles Sweeney, “Author/Reporter, Former Prosecutor, Testify in Hearing on Ex-FBI Agent’s Murder Indictment,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 13, 2007.

  85. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Kastigar hearing, testimony of Noel Downey, August 8, 2007, 75–78.

  86. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Kastigar hearing, testimony of Peter Lance, August 12, 2007, 270.

  87. Ibid., 304.

  88. Jerry Capeci, “Gaffe Benches G-Man Prosecutors,” New York Sun, September 6, 2007.

  89. Ibid.

  90. Edwards interview, November 3, 2011.

  91. Author’s interview with Anthony Casso, September 23, 2011.

  92. Author’s interview with Andrew Orena, January 13, 2012.

  93. Alice McQuillan, “Prosecution: Retired FBI Agent Involved with Murder, Robbery, Prostitution,” WNBC.com, October 1, 2007.

  94. “Former ‘Radical’ Judge Presides over Former FBI Agent’s Trial.”

  CHAPTER 41: AGENT OF DEATH

  1. Alex Ginsburg, “Mob Mirth at Moll’s Slay,” New York Post, October 16, 2007.

  2. Steve Dunleavy, “Dirt Bag Is Grime of Century,” New York Post, October 16, 2007.

  3. Lester Holt, “Son of Sam 35 Years Later,” NBC Nightly News, http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/43956634#43956634.

  4. Scott Shifrel, “Celebrated Cop Laughs Off Memo Alleging Mafia Ties,” New York Daily News, October 27, 2007.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Author’s interview with NYPD detective Joe Coffey (ret.), February 13, 2010.

  7. Michael Brick, “On Trial, Ex-FBI Agent Faces Years of Scrutiny over Mob Killings,” New York Times, October 16, 2007; Ginnine Fried LinkedIn profile, http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ginnine-fried/3/b64/83a.

  8. Jim Dwyer, “Gustin Reichbach, Judge with a Radical History, Dies at 65,” New York Times, July 17, 2012.

  9. Fredric Dannen, “The G-Man and the Hit Man,” New Yorker, December 16, 1996.

  10. R. Lindley DeVecchio and Charles Brandt, We’re Going to Win This Thing: The Shocking Frame-up of a Mafia Crime Buster (New York: Berkley, 2011), 68.

  11. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, transcript, 4–5.

  12. Ibid., 5.

  13. Ibid., 15–16.

  14. Ibid., 19.

  15. Ibid., 24.

  16. Ibid., 31.

  17. Ibid., 35.

  18. Ibid., 36–37.

  19. Ibid., 38–39.

  20. Ibid., 40.

  21. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, January 13, 2012.

  22. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 69.

  23. Press release, Kings County district attorney, March 30, 2006, transcript of press conference in which DA Hynes repeated that allegation; Michael Brick, “Ex-FBI Agent’s Murder Trial Fizzles, as Does Chief Witness,”New York Times, November 1, 2007.

  24. Heidi Singer and Alex Ginsberg, “Mob-Busting Prober Quits Brooklyn DA,” New York Post, May 25, 2007.

  25. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 70.

  26. Ibid., 188.

  27. Ibid., 190.

  28. Ibid., 422.

  29. Author’s interview with Andrew Orena, January 13, 2012.

  30. Ibid., 275.

  31. Ibid., 277.

  32. Special Agent Raymond Andjich, sworn statement, April 7, 1994, 3.

  33. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 297.

  34. Ibid., 307.

  35. Andjich, sworn statement, 6.

  36. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 333.

  37. Ibid., 370.

  38. Special Agent Jeffrey W. Tomlinson, sworn affidavit, April 7, 1994, 8–9.

  39. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 412–13.

  40. Tomlinson, sworn affidavit, April 7, 1994, 8.

  41. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 433.

  42. Author’s interview with Tommy Dades, November 12, 2007.

  43. U.S. v. William Cutolo et al., testimony of Detective Pat Maggiore, October 1994, transcript, 4271.

  44. Andrew Orena interview.

  45. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 473.

  46. Ibid., 480.

  47. Ibid., 502.

  48. Chris Favo, sworn statement, July 7, 1995, 3.

  49. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 505.

  50. Ibid., 525.

  51. Ibid.

  52. Ibid., 588.

  53. Ibid., 611.

  54. Scott Shifrel, “Mob Killer Becomes a Crybaby: Weepy Testimony of His Lost Life and Murderous Boss,” New York Daily News, October 19, 2007.

  55. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 716.

  56. Ibid., 714.

  57. Ibid., 774.

  58. Ibid., 777.

  59. Ibid., 1646.

  60. Ibid., 1648.

  61. Ibid., 1650.

  62. Ibid.

  63. Ibid., 1651.

  64. Ibid., 1655.

  65. Ibid., 1658.

  66. Priscilla Beaulieu Presley and Sandra Harmon, Elvis and Me (New York: Penguin, 1986).

  67. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 1709–14.

  68. Special Agent Chris Favo, FBI 302 memo, February 6, 1994, 7.

  69. Ibid.

  70. Jerry Capeci, “Ex-FBI Agent Probed in Mob Hits,”New York Sun, January 12, 2006.

  71. Matt Nestel and Alex Ginsberg, “DA Played ‘Dumb D-Dum Dumb,’” New York Post, November 3, 2007.

  72. “Ex-Newser Fights FBI-Mole Case Subpoena,” New York Daily News, August 2, 2007.

  73. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 1716–17.

  74. Ibid.

  75. Ibid., 1820–22.

  76. Ibid., 1847.

  77. Ibid., 1848.

  78. Author’s interview with Mike Vecchione, October 30, 2007.

  CHAPTER 42: G-MAN STICKS IT TO DA

  1. Tom Robbins, “Tall Tales of a Mafia Mistress,” Village Voice, October 30, 2007.

  2. William Rashbaum, “F.B.I. Colleagues Help Ex-Agent Post Bail,” New York Times, March 31, 2006.

  3. Jerry Capeci, “G-Man Wins: Tapes Foil Mob Moll,” New York Sun, November 1, 2007.

  4. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, transcript, 2001–2002.

  5. Ibid., 2007.

  6. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, January 13, 2012.

  7. Author’s interview with Andrew Orena, January 13, 2012.

  8. Michael Brick, “Ex-F.B.I. Agent’s Murder Trial Fizzles, as Does Chief Witness,” New York Times, November 1, 200
7.

  9. Alex Ginsberg, “DeVecchio Off Hook,” New York Post, October 31, 2007.

  10. Alex Ginsberg, “Moll Rat Is a Tape Worm,” New York Post, November 2, 2007.

  11. Scott Shifrel, William Sherman, and Helen Kennedy, “Tapes Show Mob Moll Made It Up,” New York Daily News, November 1, 2007.

  12. Capeci, “G-Man Wins.”

  13. Alex Ginsberg, “Up Yours: G-Man Sticks It to DA with Toast at Mob-Slay Site,” New York Post, November 2, 2007.

  14. Scott Shifrel, “Ex-News Reporters Step Forward with Crucial Recordings,” New York Daily News, November 1, 2007.

  15. Alex Ginsberg, “Moll Tape a Real Killer,” New York Post, November 1, 2007: “Sources familiar with the tapes said Schiro specifically says DeVecchio had nothing to do with the 1987 murder of Scarpa protégé-gone-bad Joseph ‘Joe Brewster’ DeDomenico”; Shifrel, Sherman, and Kennedy, “Tapes Show Mob Moll Made It Up”: “Testimony of Linda Schiro implicated Lindley DeVecchio in four mob hits. But a 1997 taped interview she gave to reporters Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins contradicted her claims in three cases, [including] the 1987 murder of Colombo soldier Joe DeDomenico.”

  16. Capeci, “G-Man Wins.”

  17. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Linda Schiro, October 29, 2007, transcript, 1615.

  18. Ibid., 1617.

  19. Ibid., 1630.

  20. Supervisory Special Agents Kevin P. Donovan and Robert J. O’Brien, FBI 302 memo, William Meli, June 13, 1994, 6.

  21. Robbins, “Tall Tales.”

  22. Al Guarte, “FBI Big Shots Knew Mob Rat Killed His Rivals,” New York Post, March 1, 1977; U.S. v. Michael Sessa, testimony of R. Lindley DeVecchio, November 2, 1992, transcript, 118–19.

  23. “Transcript from Linda Schiro’s Conversations with Reporters,” New York Daily News, November 2, 2007, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/transcript-linda-schiro-conversations-reporters-article-1.256537.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Shifrel, Sherman, and Kennedy, “Tapes Show Moll Made It Up.”

  26. Scott Shifrel, “Special Prosecutor Appointed to Probe Linda Schiro Perjury Charge,” New York Daily News, November 8, 2007.

  27. Bob Garfield, “The Fed, the Mobster, the Mistress and the Reporter,” OntheMedia.org, November 2, 2007, http://www.onthemedia.org/2007/nov/02/the-fed-the-mobster-the-mistress-and-the-reporter/transcript/.

  28. Andrew Orena interview, January 13, 2012.